BACKSLIDER BLOG
"Don't look back," I whisper.
Her eyes are wide and round as if she'll turn to a pillar of salt if she dares look back, a Biblical reference I've known since I was her.
"I'm scared."
I point toward the sun, high in the sky now.
"Feel the warmth. Stand still on the ground. Let the sun and Earth hold you. You're right where you need to be. You're safe."
When you’re born with original sin and a soul bound for Hell it’s an evangelical parent’s eternally fatal responsibility to beat the will from you.
This one isn’t entirely on the Evangelicals; Corporal punishment transcends cultures and religions and generations. The Christians repackaged it through, gave it a nice biblical bow with old "Spare the rod; spoil the child.”
Prosperity Gospel is the doctrine that believers are rewarded for their faith not only in the afterlife, but here and now. God wants you to be rich.
Some preachers love that prosperity gospel. After all it is tied to the notion that the flock's blessings will be administered according to contributions to the church.
Bless God and he'll bless you!
Many a preacher has gotten himself rich on doctrine.
Christians are great at playing like they are some kind of oppressed minority about to be fed to the lions for their faith. I internalized that fantasy when I was part of the church too.
According to the Bible true believers would be persecuted and blessed for that persecution.
American evangelicals learn all sorts of mental gymnastics in order to feel persecuted.
There is nothing nutty or radical about humane immigration policy, feeding hungry people, guaranteeing healthcare, raising wages, housing people, providing assistance to the world's poor, taking care of the planet we share or treating people who are different with compassion.
These liberal ideas are actually deeply Christian.
In the current political climate, Christian conservatives want people to believe that higher education has some kind of liberal bias, a political agenda involving a vendetta against God. It turns good people into baby killers and sodomites.
It's absolutely ridiculous.
Education brings perspective- all kinds of it, while the church exists in a vacuum
Slowly I'm realizing the path to peace I've found is far from purely psychological but deeply and beautifully spiritual.
It's the kind of spiritual that makes me feel like I'm not separate from this world. It's no mystery to me, the connection we feel to nature in childhood, drawn to dig our toes into the mud and to scramble up into the trees: the iron in that dirt runs through our blood. The oxygen produced by the trees let's us breathe. We are One.
My trauma from religion has been invalidated my whole life. Smirked at, preached at. Here are some common invalidating remarks I hear as an ex Evangelical vocal about the lasting scars of indoctrination.
I left Christianity behind in my early 20’s, much too far behind to pick it up again even as a crutch after I became disabled in a car accident at age 32. Rendered a complete quadriplegic I soon found myself seeking and extending solidarity and support in spinal cord injury support groups. In little time I became aware that Christians dominated these groups and conversations about faith healing would occur on a daily basis.
Don’t be scared; I did this for us. Sure, I miss Jesus sometimes, but God? No, we were given a version of him that was pretty hard to love huh, sweetie? Unfortunately I let that set a precedent for me and still have yet to find a genuine love in a man.
But I’m not unhappy, honey. I’m not scared anymore. I have been through some incredibly tough times, and I only had faith in myself. I’m proud of myself. Pride feels good and I deserve it. I work hard. My values aren’t handed to me by a church. I follow my heart. And you know what? It leads us down a good path!
